A dear friend of mine, Dr. Michael Hall, is a research scientist at the LSU Pecan Research Centre in Shreveport, Louisiana. While out in the pecan orchard recently he spotted an owl flying from what appeared to be a strange looking perch. Upon closer examination he found that the "perch" was in fact an owl's nest with young owls observing the goings on below! Well, as you can see, the nest had a very unique quality to it. It seems that the mother owl had stripped many of the research trees of their markings - coloured plastic strips -- and had used them to "decorate" her nest. A true Louisiana Mardi Gras nest!! They only thing the nest doesn't have are beads!

The close-up pictures of the owls are of one of the youngsters who decided to take a "flight" down to the ground to check it out.